Custer chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, Black Hills, D.T. [S.D.]) 1880-1890, 1887-06-25
STEPHEN STONED TO DEATH
Five Pictures Presented Of the Last
Scenes
OF the Good Christians Horrible Taking
Off.
Those Who Defend the Right Always
Hated.
A Great Sermon On the Lesson of Stephens
Death.
..THE HEAVENS OPENED


BROOKLYN, June 12.-This morning
81 the Tabernacle the Rev. 7. Dewitt
Talmage, ID. d., e~xpounded appropriate
passages of scripture, after which the
congregation sang the favorite hymn;
There is rest for the weary" The
reverend doctors text was Acts vii. DO
Go:
.,Beho,d / see the heavens opened, and
the son Of man standing on IHe
light hand OF God. Then they crled
out with a loud voice and stopped their ears,
and ran upon him with one accord, and cast
him out Of the city, and stoned him; ana the
witnesses laid down their clothes at a young
mans feet, whose name was Saul. Ana they
stoned stephen, calling upon God, and saying
Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. And he
kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice,
Lord. Law not this sin to their charge. And
when he had said this, he fell asleep"
The preacher said;
Stephen had been preaching a rous-
ING sermon, and the people could not
stand it. They resolved to do as men
sometimes would like to do in this day,
if they dared, with some plain preacher
of righteousness-kill him. The only
way TO silence this man was to knock
the breath out of him. So they rushed
Stephen out of the gates OF the city
and with curse, and whoop and below
they brought him to the cliff, as was
the custom when they wanted to take
away Lie by stoning. Having brought
him to the edge of the cliff they pushed
him off. After he had fallen they came
and looked down, and seeing that he
was not yet dead, they began to DROP
stones upon him, stone after stone
stone after stone. Amid this horrible
rain OF missiles Stephen chambers NJ
on his knees and folds his hands, while
the blood drips from his temples &c
his cheeks, from his cheeks 10 his gar
ments, from his garments to the
ground; and then, looking up, 1t
makes two prayers-one for himself
and one for his murderers. 'Lort
Jesus receive my spirit" that was fol
him ,elf. lord. lay not this sin tC
theil Charge" that was for his assail
ants. Then, from pain and loss OF
blood. he swooned away and fel
asleep.
FIVE PICTURES.
/ want to show you to-day five pict
ures. Stephen gazing into heaven
Stephem looking at Christ. Stephen
stoned. Stephen in his dying prayer
Stephen asleep.
First. look at Stephen gazing into
heaven. Before you take a leap you
want to know where you are going to
land. Before you climb a ladder you
want to know what point the ladder
reaches. And it was right that Stephen
within a few moments of heaven should
be gazing into it. We would all dc
well to be found in the same posture.
There is enough in heaven to keep us
gazing. A man Of large wealth may
have statuary in the hall, and paintings
in the sitting room, and works of art
in all parts of the house, out he has
the chief pictures in the art gallery,
and there hour after hour you walk
with catalogue and glass and ever in
creasing admiration. Well, heaven is
the gallery where God has gathered
the chief treasures of His realm. The
whole universe IS His palace. In this
lower room where we stop there are
many adornments: tessellated floor of
amethyst and blossom, and on the
winding cloud-stairs are stretched out
canvas on which commingle azure, and
purple, and saffron, and gold. But
heaven is the gallery in which the
chief glories are gathered. There are
the brightest robes. There are the
richest crowns. There are the highest
celebrations. John says of it: The
kings of the earth shall bring their
honor and glory into it." And l see
the procession forming, and in the line
come all empires, and the stars spring
up into an arch for the hosts to march
under. They keep step to the sound
of earthquake and the pitch of ava
lanch from the mountains, and the flag
they bear is the flame of a
CONSUMING WORLD,
and all heaven turns out with harps
and trumpets and myriad voiced accla-
nation of angelic dominion TO welcome
them in, and 10 the kings of the earth
bring their honor and glory into it.
DO you wonder that good people often
stand like Stephen, looking into
heavenp We have a great many
friends there. There is not a man in
this house to-day SO isolated in life but